Photography: The analog hipster

Someone sent me this and I thought this was rather interesting.
(From the NYTimes)

"When is the last time you took a photo with an old-school camera — the kind that doesn’t have a wireless connection, needs to be loaded with finicky rolls of film and is too bulky to slide into a back pocket?
Unless you are a professional photographer or an artist, it has probably been a while. Most people have abandoned film cameras for digital models or, more recently, smartphones outfitted with lens accessories and apps like Instagram that make photo-sharing extremely simple.
But film photography is having another moment in the sun, thanks to some hip, quirky companies like Lomography and the Impossible Project, which are resurrecting this seemingly archaic art for enthusiastic hobbyists. These companies and their customers tend to embrace the imperfections of film, rejecting the cold precision of digital photos."

Go here to read the entire article.

Music: Beirut and other acts I don't recognize

I was writing on my laptop last night, with Jay Leno re-runs as background noise, when the band Beirut began to play. Immediately, I realized how cool it would have been to have the variation available in today's groups when I was growing up and impressionable and, well, cared about music. Beirut seems to fit the bill quite nicely given the instruments featured in the band and the very cool combinations they formed when playing together.

In my case, it seems as if everything musical has been relegated to a tertiary position to life and living. Maintaining relationships, raising kids, making ends meet, cleaning after the dogs, making sure there is something quick to eat, gassing up the car, washing the bird poop off the driveway, those things seem to have priority now. But I am willing to bet that were I a teenage girl now, knowing how eclectic my taste has always been, I'm pretty sure I would have known or heard or liked many of the musical entities listed in this poster.

Now, I am happy to (at least) be able to recognize the headliners for each day. I can guess at where the name Zeds Dead came from, but then again, that shows my age and my penchant for movies. Yeah, I think I would have made every attempt to attend the first day of Choachella because, frankly, First Aid Kit sounds more like a necessity in case of emergencies than anything I would ever imagine listening to. Though, along with Dr. Dre, there is "somebody I used to know" (Gotye) and, of course, Beirut on that last day. And who doesn't want to hear Pure Filth Sound on the second?